Cryptic successors unrevealed even by network analysis: A comparative study of two paper wasp species

Understanding queen succession could be a key contribution to the better understanding of the origins and evolution of eusociality. In order to investigate the nature of organizational changes during queen succession, we analyzed two closely related paper wasp species (Ropalidia cyathiformis and Ropalidia marginata). We compared the effects of in vivo and in silico queen removal on the structure of their interaction networks (the former resulting in queenless colonies with potential queens). We studied several structural measures. There is no major structural difference between full (queenright) and in silico queen-removed colonies but there are major differences between queenless and in silico queen-removed ones. This suggests that queen succession is accompanied by a major reorganization of the society, in Rm but not so much in Rc. We also analysed the centrality ranks of potential queens and found that their positional importance changes a lot during queen succession in R. marginata, as they are processed in the colony. In the queenright colonies of R. marginata, the direction of links is a better predictor of the identity of the potential queen than the strength of links.